Jacks Or Better Video Poker Strategy

• Video poker is one of the most successful and popular games ever invented. After 30 years, the original Jacks or Better variety is still a favorite, probably because the house edge is less than half of a percent! Video poker came about in the 1970s when Si Redd's little company in Sparks, Nevada, introduced Draw Poker.
• Jacks or Better is a video poker game where the lowest paying hand is a pair of jacks. In Jacks or Better strategy, the aim is to at least have two Jacks in your hand or better, hence the name Jacks or Better. It follows rules similar to five card draw poker. In Jacks or Better, or any other video poker game, you have 1 to 5 coins to play with.

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If you've made it through the wilds of the internet to find your way here, you probably know all about basic strategy for Jacks or Better video poker already.

With basic strategy guidelines out of the way, many Jacks or Better players mistakenly believe that their tutelage on video poker's foundational game has come to an end. While it is true that learning basic strategy is an essential first step in a quality Jacks or Better education, it is just that – a first step.

Jacks or Better Strategy. This section covers some important strategies used by expert players to make the most of their time and money in Jacks or Better poker. The game's RTP, or return to player percentage, is 99.46% on a full pay game. This means the house edge is lower than many other casino games. Welcome to Video Poker Genius! This is part 1 of a series of videos designed to help you become a better video poker player. In this part, I play 100 practic. JACKS OR BETTER STRATEGY. Jacks or Better has been around almost from the beginning of video poker. Even though hundreds of other variations have been introduced, Jacks or Better continues to be among the most popular game variations in the live casino and online video poker inventory.

Once you've mastered the ins and outs of playing your five-card draws with optimal precision, you're definitely in business and there's no doubt about that.

I don't believe Jacks or Better enthusiasts should ever limit themselves to the confines of basic strategy. Learn it, by all means, but always follow through by enhancing your basic strategy knowledge with supplementary skills and strategies designed to extract every possible edge from Jacks or Better's basic rules and gameplay.

To that end, the list below highlights four rules and strategies for Jacks or Better video poker that most players simply don't know enough about.

1 – Betting the Maximum of 5 Coins Is the Only Way to Score Premium Payouts on a Royal

If you've been spending time in video poker parlors or you've gambled on online video poker sites, you've probably heard regulars admonishing rookies who don't bet all five coins:

'Hey, whaddya doin' there guy? You're only helpin' the casino out by bettin' less than the max.'

Unfortunately, while these self-styled mentors are quick to dole advice like that out, they seldom back it up with a real explanation as to exactly why maximum bets are the best play.

I've got you covered though, so scan at the standard 9/6 full pay Jacks or Better pay table show below:

Jacks or Better Full Pay Table (by Coins Bets)

This pay table can be fund flashing in yellow print from hundreds of thousands of Game King machines found in casinos all over the world.

I want you to focus on how the payouts for each hand, except the best hand, escalate according to a steady pattern. No matter the size of your bet, making two pair is always good for a 2 to 1 payout in terms of coins. In other words, bet 1 coin and get 2 back for two pair; bet 2 coins and get 4 back, etc.

This pattern holds up even for a straight flush, which pays out at 50 to 1 for each coin wagered. You can bet 4 coins and get 200 back for a straight flush, or 5 coins for 250 back, but it all boils down to the same 50 to 1 payout.

But get a load of that Royal Flush payout, which starts at 250 to 1 for a 1-coin bet. Royal payouts climb according to the same pattern for 1-4 coins bet, until you hit that 5-coin max bet level. There, landing a Royal Flush is good for a whopping 4,000 to 1 payout.

This 'jackpot' element is crucial to Jacks or Better strategy, because as the table's bottom column clearly shows, even a 9/6 full pay game won't offer the 99.54 percent payback rate that makes this game so great for players.

Reel rich devil slot. Simply put, when you bet anything less than 5 coins per hand, you're doing the casino a massive favor. Not only does the house's liability drop severely on Royal Flushes, but every hand you play suddenly changes from 99.54 percent payback to 98.30 percent.

Fortunately, the Game King machine – and the top-rated online casinos offering Jacks or Better – lets players choose their coin denomination. So if betting 5 coins at $1 per is too rich for your blood (and bankroll), just dial it back to the $0.25 coin denomination and max-bet for $1.25 per hand.

2 – Hunting for the 9/6 Full Pay Machines and Never Settling for Less

That 99.54 percent payback rate is what brings so many sharp gamblers out of the woodwork to play Jacks or Better.

Expressed in terms of house edge, the game only lends the casino a 0.46 percent advantage, putting Jacks or Better on par with blackjack and other popular casino games.

But that's only when you play against the 9/6 full pay table shown below:

Jacks or Better Full Pay Table

As you might have noticed by now, many video poker games out there today don't actually offer the 9/6 full pay table.

Instead, the casinos try to get one over on players by offering machines that use one of the inferior pay tables shown below:

Inferior Jacks or Better Pay Tables (by Payback Percentage)

These pay tables are, pardon my French, pure B.S. By tweaking just a single payout downward, casinos can turn Jacks or Better into a sucker game on par with slots.

Here's how Bob Dancer, known in the gambling world as the 'King of Video Poker,' described the creeping shift away from 9/6 full pay machines:

'The machines at Station have been getting a lot tighter. Most players think there will be no 100 percent games by the end of the year at Station Casinos.

They have 100 percent machines, but they have more at the middle of the spectrum and a whole lot near the bottom. Station appears to be catering to the less-knowledgeable player.

But no one should play at a machine that pays less than 99 percent. There are too many 99 percent machines around town.'

3 – Knowing the Odds Against Making Every Possible Paying Hand

Everyone knows a full house beats a flush or a straight in poker, so naturally, it pays out more than those hands in Jacks or Better.

But did you know it's actually slightly more difficult to make a flush or a straight in Jacks or Better than it is a full house?

Well, that's a fact, as the table below shows off quite clearly:

Probabilities and Odds Against for Paying Hands in Jacks or Better

As you can see, the odds against making a full house, flush, and straight are almost identical. Knowing this, when you have starting hands that allow for multiple draws to these hands, always opt for the full house and it's juiced up payout.

4 – Playing Faster to Make Long Odds More Attainable

In that table above, you can see that landing a Royal in Jacks or Better is a huge longshot at 1 in 40,391 odds against.

Playing through more than 40,000 hands to realize those odds may seem like an impossible task, but it doesn't have to be.

Just ask 'Dr. Antonius,' a video poker speed-runner who holds the world record for fastest Jacks or Better session ever recorded. You can watch the good doctor do his thing down below:

But here's the scoop. Using perfect basic strategy, Dr. Antonius completed 2,262 hands in a single hour. Thus, it would only take him 17 hours or so of grinding to reach the 40,391-hand threshold.

Obviously, you don't have to play at world-record pace to improve your odds of a Royal. But playing faster is the best way to churn out enough hands to realize those longshot odds.

Conclusion

Jacks or Better basic strategy is like a key that opens a treasure chest stuffed with gold and jewels. In theory, when wielded in the right hands, using the hard and fast rules for discard / draw decisions can turn Jacks or Better into one of the best games in the house. But that advantage remains entirely theoretical when players don't know about the other rules and strategies found above.

The folks who don't bet all 5 coins per hand, sit down at inferior non-full pay tables, or play too quickly or slowly for their personal bankroll requirements instantly sacrifice all of the extra equity basic strategy provides. Knowing this, you should never put a penny in a Jacks or Better machine until you've checked all four rules and strategies found here off your to-do list.

The internet has caused a lot of things to change since its inception, one of the most striking is in the world of Video Poker. Although the first versions were released back in the 1970s, the look, feel and variations that are now available compared to when the internet was first launched are vastly different. The rules for each are very simple and only very slightly from one game to another, the easiest to play and one of the oldest and most popular is Jack or Better, which we outline below.
Before you read this strategy, ensure you know poker hand rankings.

Once you have mastered this, you are ready to consider the best way to play the Jacks or Better Video Slot.

How to Play Jacks or Better

There are lots of versions of video poker and although some differences between versions are fairly minor, the version does affect the best strategy.

All versions share the same basic rules, however, which involve you choosing your stake, receiving 5 cards from a standard 52 card deck (some versions have an extra Joker – not Jacks or Better though) after which you can discard as few or as many as you want. Any cards you discard are replaced using the remaining cards in the deck, at which point winnings are paid depending on the strength of your hand. You don't need to worry about what the dealer or other players get as there are none, it is just you against the machine.

This article concentrates on the most popular version of Video Poker, Jacks or Better which pays out on any hand that has a pair of Jacks or better all the way up to a Royal Flush. A screenshot of a typical Jacks or Better Video Poker game is below.

Jacks-or-Better gives you a 99.54% expected rate of return when played correctly. On the front of the machine, you can check the payouts and pick the ones with the best odds.

Here are payouts for a Full House and a Flush respectively on various machines.

The best odds when you play Jacks or better Are best on a 9 / 6 machine, it simply pays out more money to go with this machine.

Jacks or Better Paytables

Paytables can vary a small amount when playing Jacks or Better at different casinos, generally speaking though, the following is fairly standard:

As you can see, the difference between a Royal Flush and all other hands is huge, in order to win we, therefore, need to maximize the chances of getting a Royal Flush whilst banking as many smaller wins as we can to keep us ticking over until the Royal Flush arrives. Slots lv free spins.

Another thing to realize when playing Jacks or Better is that around 79% of hands will be losing hands, so don't feel despondent if you go several hands without a win. Perseverance is the key to playing any form of Video Poker, what you need to do is keep plugging away picking up small wins wherever possible to keep your funds ticking over until the big one arrives.

When you decide on the stake to play, ensure you play the maximum coins if you can, this will give the biggest possible payout when the Royal Flush does arrive and ensures you get a nice return. It is much better to reduce the value of a coin and play maximum coins than play a higher value coin but only bet 1 coin per go.

Patience is key, so take your time to study the strategies and make the right move, there is no time limit on Video Poker unlike some games as you are playing by yourself and others won't be waiting on your move like you will get in some forms of Roulette and Blackjack. Make the most of this and get the decision correct to maximize your chances of a payout.

We have listed 2 strategies below, get used to the simple version if you are new to Video Poker, feel free to jump straight to the advanced version if you are more experienced.

Jacks Or Better Strategy

Using this strategy should increase the return over time to around 99.45% if played correctly. Reducing the House Edge in any casino game is important and although this may not seem like much, over a long period of time, it can make a big difference.

As with all Video Poker, patience is key. The only real way to make money is by hitting a Royal Flush, and due to the low odds of this happening, it can take a long time.

Start from the top of the table below, and hold the first set of cards that are applicable to the hand you are dealt:

Terminology

Download slot machines. In the above table, the following applies:

High Card – Jack, Queen, King or Ace. A Pair of these returns your stake, so it is worth holding.

Outside Straight – 4 Cards that are consecutive and where a card at either end can provide you with a Straight – EG. 5,6,7,8

Inside Straight – 4 Cards where there is one number missing that would complete a Straight. EG 5,6,8,9

Advanced Strategy

Once you have mastered the above, take a look at our more in-depth Advanced Strategy. This will increase the payout percentage to around 99.54%, one of the highest returns of any casino game. If you are lucky enough to hit a Royal Flush early, a nice return is on offer…

As with the Simple Strategy, start at the top of the below table and work your way down until you find the cards applicable to your hand.

Borderline Hands
The below are hands that very nearly make it into the above list, but an optimal play would be to make a different decision.
Suited 10 A – Hold the A only
3 Unsuited High Cards with A as the highest – Keep the lowest 2 High Cards as the chances of a Straight are higher when open-ended
4 to an Inside Straight with 2 High Cards – Keep the 2 High Cards
4 to an Inside Straight with 1 High Card – Keep the 1 High Card
4 to an Inside Straight with 0 High Cards – Discard all

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Jacks or Better Tips

The jacks or better tips are the same for any video poker game, the only thing that's different is the strategy card. I will go over some of the basic tips as part of our jacks or better strategy.

1. Always play the maximum number of coins in order to be eligible for the bonus payout for a royal flush. You can't win without hitting it in any video poker game so this is the hand that is vital. To do this you need to be able to play for a long time banking smaller wins until you hit it.
2. Take your time to study every hand and play correctly. The machines at casinos are in no hurry when you play Jacks or Better and neither should you be.
3. Only 21% of the hands dealt are winning ones in Jacks or Better, meaning 79% are losing hands. The difference between success and failure for players is the ability to convert the 79% of losing hands to potential winners and this involves using strategy. If you follow the rules below you will convert a good number of losing hands to winners in Jacks or Better video poker

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